What is the validity of this saying: "If you do good to someone, evil will come back to you"?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
This questioner says: This saying is common among people: "If you do good to someone, evil will come back to you." Is this saying correct?
The Shaykh:
What limit does one reach by doing good? Well, I say, well, it does not do so. If we follow the rule—I do not know who brought it up—no one of us does good and evil comes to him. He says: Do good and have a good intention, and nothing but good will come to you, if Allah wills. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh.
The Shaykh:
For example, he says: "Do good and evil will come to you." This is not correct. Beware of the evil of the one to whom you have done good. All of this is empty talk. Yes.
This questioner says: This saying is common among people: "If you do good to someone, evil will come back to you." Is this saying correct?
The Shaykh:
What limit does one reach by doing good? Well, I say, well, it does not do so. If we follow the rule—I do not know who brought it up—no one of us does good and evil comes to him. He says: Do good and have a good intention, and nothing but good will come to you, if Allah wills. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh.
The Shaykh:
For example, he says: "Do good and evil will come to you." This is not correct. Beware of the evil of the one to whom you have done good. All of this is empty talk. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما صحة هذه العبارة إذا فعلت خيرًا لأحدٍ سيرجع عليك شرًّا؟ لمعالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.